Today I went to check on my QT and noticed I had lost my lawnmower blenny, one of my clownfish, coral beauty angel. I had put them in my tank due to a slight ich outbreak and was dosing copper power daily for a week. Current copper level is 2.09. They have been in the tank for around 3 weeks and haven't shown any signs of stress before. Also decided to dose prime with the copper power just for safety
They have been eating, yes I have an airstone, small powerhead, haven't been able to get an amolmonia alert badge but last time tested before dosing copper it was zero thats also why I'm adding prime just to detoxify if there is any. And im feeding them very lightly
AnotherReefHobbyist
Well-Known Member
I am not sure about anything else, but if your clown died then something is seriusly wrong. Those things seem to be able to survive anything.
I had one in 0.4 ammonia at once, it is still alive.
WHat did the dead fish look like, anything noticeable on them?
I had one in 0.4 ammonia at once, it is still alive.
WHat did the dead fish look like, anything noticeable on them?
AnotherReefHobbyist
Well-Known Member
it is possible is spread super fast somehow overnight. I have only had ich in freshwater, and on some fish it takes weeks to even get it, and on others it jumps super fast, and then just covers them, no sure if it is the same in saltwater though.
( it is also possible ich was able to spread very fast after it died )
May be marine velvet....
Its a fast killer and does kill fish in QT.
Thats why some people including myself drop fish into predosed water and ramp up to 2ppm within a few days.
I do the 14 days then transfer to sterile QT without meds.
Its a fast killer and does kill fish in QT.
Thats why some people including myself drop fish into predosed water and ramp up to 2ppm within a few days.
I do the 14 days then transfer to sterile QT without meds.
AnotherReefHobbyist
Well-Known Member
I normally just drop them in QT with some light herbtana meds, and if there is a problem switch to more agressive meds.
The ramp up time may have been too long...
What are you using to test the concentration?
Gotcha. All i can deduce is the ramp up time may have been too long if it was infact marine velvet.
Id keep the rest of the batch @ 2ppm.
Are you going fallow in the display in the meantime?
There's a few options that caused the sudden death of all 3 fish.
Assuming the copper was kept at therapeutic levels for the whole time that would eliminate a parasite causing there demise. Not sure if you only used copper or added some other meds but its possible the levels of the meds were dosed incorrectly while quarantining and the fish died from being over medicated. Other option is that the water in quarantine was not ideal containing high levels of ammonia or a combo of numerous params way out of whack causing the fish to die. I would run a gauntlet of tests on the quarantine water as soon as the fish died and see what all the actual params were when the fish died. Good luck hope you figure it out so it doesn't happen again. Since they all died quickly and around the same time my bet is on the water quality being bad. Were the fish eating normally the whole time in the quarantine tank?
Assuming the copper was kept at therapeutic levels for the whole time that would eliminate a parasite causing there demise. Not sure if you only used copper or added some other meds but its possible the levels of the meds were dosed incorrectly while quarantining and the fish died from being over medicated. Other option is that the water in quarantine was not ideal containing high levels of ammonia or a combo of numerous params way out of whack causing the fish to die. I would run a gauntlet of tests on the quarantine water as soon as the fish died and see what all the actual params were when the fish died. Good luck hope you figure it out so it doesn't happen again. Since they all died quickly and around the same time my bet is on the water quality being bad. Were the fish eating normally the whole time in the quarantine tank?
Hope your able to figure out what happened. I don’t quarantine any of my fish just float them and then let them cruise there new home. I’m sure I have ich in the tank my 4+ year old yellow tang became infested a couple weeks after being in the tank along with some of the others. Also I don’t add fish very often since I rarely have a death but when I do sometimes I see a little ich on the new fish but it quickly goes away in a few days. I do have a uv sterilizer, coupled with keeping my water in pristine condition and feeding my fish large portions of Hikari frozen cubes I believe it helps the fish have a strong immune system so I never worry about a disease outbreak. I also buy all my fish from the same lfs.
Sorry this update is a little late but after my first clownfish died I lost my second one based on further research it seems they had ich and marine velvet. My tang, firefish and a handful of chromis are now ich free but will keep them there a little longer before removing the copper from the water. Thanks for the advice 
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